Inside Kikki.K’s Dreamy Workplace Culture

There is a well-paid job named, ‘The Happiness Angel’, who working within Kikki.K’s People and Culture team. How these glorious angels sprinkle some happiness around during the busiest times of year.

By : Team Kossie
Image : Courtesy of Kikki.K

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September 20, 2018

To celebrate Kristina Karlsson, the Swedish-born stationery queen, as well as the launch of her first new debut book, ‘Your Dream Life Starts Here’, we talk to Kristina and her husband Paul Lacy, the founder and owner of Kikki.K, on creating a healthy work culture inside their stationary empire. In recent years, they learned that there is a constant juggle that every team member works extremely hard on to help the company reach milestones. They also understand that they reduce the possibility of any burnouts. As a result, their main focus is to prioritise their staff’s well-being, both physically and mentally, in order to build a sustainable business.

Firstly, Kikki.K mentioned to their staff member that bringing their dog to work every Tuesday, and allowing them to bring their kids in, gave them the flexibility to work remotely or get a paid day off on their birthday. It may sound typical and common to you these days if you work in a big corporation.

But recently, they’ve given every team member a paid day off to ‘dream’. As an outstanding and respectable leader in a well-known company like Kikki.K, which has over 100 stores worldwide, there is a need for them to lead by example. Hence, I could not help but wonder is that something related to Kristina’s new book? A book that encourages readers to dream big and motivates them to act on their dream. Most likely, this sounds like a yes to me.

However, what exactly they should be dreaming about? “Think about the future they want to create for themselves and their family and their loved ones,” explains Lacy. We all need something like this to keep us motivated, especially during those times when you get so busy at work that you forget to focus on a bigger picture in mind.

“…they organize shoulder massages…”

“We also have what we call ‘The Happiness Angels’, who are essentially people who work within our people and culture team,” adds Lacy. Their team find these glorious angels very favourable during the peak seasons, when they are “at their most stressed”.

Are they even real? To us, it sounded like a ‘heaven’ already. But the question is, how do they sprinkle their magic dust on everyone on a daily basis?

“They do things like they leave a little healthy treat on everyone’s desk. They organize shoulder massages, or, they encourage people to go outside for a walk even if it’s only for five or ten minutes,” explains Lacy. Through a deep-rooted understanding of the concept of their existence, they basically “do great things” to spread happiness and kindness in and through the company.

The motive duty of ‘the happiness angels’ is actually based on the work experiences coming from Karlsson and Lacy. For example, they know what to do that helps them relieve stress and anxiety, and they recognize the signs of reaching burnouts in most people.

In addition, they have come up with a list of things for their team members to do if they are feeling very stressed. Lacy says, “At the busy times of the year, we make sure that someone will mention it (stress overload) in a team meeting.” These are all the beautiful things they do to cope into their work culture and remind people that work life balance is more than possible.